Get a free audiobook
-
Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh
- Narrated by: Kenneth Branagh
- Length: 3 hrs and 49 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Classics
People who bought this also bought...
-
Frankenstein
- Written by: Mary Shelley
- Narrated by: Dan Stevens
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Narrator Dan Stevens ( Downton Abbey) presents an uncanny performance of Mary Shelley's timeless gothic novel, an epic battle between man and monster at its greatest literary pitch. In trying to create life, the young student Victor Frankenstein unleashes forces beyond his control, setting into motion a long and tragic chain of events that brings Victor to the very brink of madness. How he tries to destroy his creation, as it destroys everything Victor loves, is a powerful story of love, friendship, scientific hubris, and horror.
-
-
Has Not Lost Any of its Power!
- By Amazon Customer on 2018-09-16
-
All Quiet on the Western Front
- Written by: Erich Maria Remarque
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Paul Bäumer is just 19 years old when he and his classmates enlist. They are Germany’s Iron Youth who enter the war with high ideals and leave it disillusioned or dead. As Paul struggles with the realities of the man he has become, and the world to which he must return, he is led like a ghost of his former self into the war’s final hours. All Quiet is one of the greatest war novels of all time, an eloquent expression of the futility, hopelessness and irreparable losses of war.
-
-
WOW
- By carlos enrique rivero velazquez on 2019-02-01
-
The Great Gatsby
- Written by: F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: Jake Gyllenhaal
- Length: 4 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American novel of the Roaring Twenties is beloved by generations of readers and stands as his crowning work. This new audio edition, authorized by the Fitzgerald estate, is narrated by Oscar-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal ( Brokeback Mountain). Gyllenhaal's performance is a faithful delivery in the voice of Nick Carraway, the Midwesterner turned New York bond salesman, who rents a small house next door to the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby. There, he has a firsthand view of Gatsby’s lavish West Egg parties - and of his undying love....
-
-
Great performance
- By Nika on 2018-01-31
-
A Tale of Two Cities
- The Audible Dickens Collection
- Written by: Charles Dickens, Simon Callow - introduction
- Narrated by: Simon Callow
- Length: 15 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Exclusively from Audible. 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.' So begins Charles Dickens' most famous historical drama: a gripping tale of war, social injustice and the choice between darkness and light. After being unjustly imprisoned for 18 years, French doctor Manette is released from the Bastille jail in Paris and embarks upon a journey to London in the hope of finding the daughter he never met.
-
-
classic Dickins
- By srwatson on 2019-09-30
-
How to Die
- An Ancient Guide to the End of Life
- Written by: Seneca, James S. Romm - introduction and translation
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 2 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"It takes an entire lifetime to learn how to die", wrote the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca (c. 4 BC-65 AD). He counseled readers to "study death always", and took his own advice, returning to the subject again and again in all his writings, yet he never treated it in a complete work. How to Die gathers in one volume, for the first time, Seneca's remarkable meditations on death and dying. Edited and translated by James S. Romm, How to Die reveals a provocative thinker who speaks with a startling frankness about the need to accept death or even, under certain conditions, to seek it out.
-
-
Good summary of a stoic on death
- By Amazon Customer on 2019-07-13
-
Treasure Island
- An Audible Original Drama
- Written by: Robert Louis Stevenson, Marty Ross - adaptation
- Narrated by: Philip Glenister, Daniel Mays, Catherine Tate, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Audible Originals takes to the high seas to bring to life this timeless tale of pirates, lost treasure maps and mutiny. When weathered old sailor Billy Bones arrives at the inn of young Jim Hawkins' parents, it is the start of an adventure beyond anything he could have imagined. When Bones dies mysteriously, Jim stumbles across a map of a mysterious island in his sea chest, where X marks the spot of a stash of buried pirate gold.
-
-
Nope
- By Amazon Customer on 2019-01-26
-
Frankenstein
- Written by: Mary Shelley
- Narrated by: Dan Stevens
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Narrator Dan Stevens ( Downton Abbey) presents an uncanny performance of Mary Shelley's timeless gothic novel, an epic battle between man and monster at its greatest literary pitch. In trying to create life, the young student Victor Frankenstein unleashes forces beyond his control, setting into motion a long and tragic chain of events that brings Victor to the very brink of madness. How he tries to destroy his creation, as it destroys everything Victor loves, is a powerful story of love, friendship, scientific hubris, and horror.
-
-
Has Not Lost Any of its Power!
- By Amazon Customer on 2018-09-16
-
All Quiet on the Western Front
- Written by: Erich Maria Remarque
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Paul Bäumer is just 19 years old when he and his classmates enlist. They are Germany’s Iron Youth who enter the war with high ideals and leave it disillusioned or dead. As Paul struggles with the realities of the man he has become, and the world to which he must return, he is led like a ghost of his former self into the war’s final hours. All Quiet is one of the greatest war novels of all time, an eloquent expression of the futility, hopelessness and irreparable losses of war.
-
-
WOW
- By carlos enrique rivero velazquez on 2019-02-01
-
The Great Gatsby
- Written by: F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: Jake Gyllenhaal
- Length: 4 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American novel of the Roaring Twenties is beloved by generations of readers and stands as his crowning work. This new audio edition, authorized by the Fitzgerald estate, is narrated by Oscar-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal ( Brokeback Mountain). Gyllenhaal's performance is a faithful delivery in the voice of Nick Carraway, the Midwesterner turned New York bond salesman, who rents a small house next door to the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby. There, he has a firsthand view of Gatsby’s lavish West Egg parties - and of his undying love....
-
-
Great performance
- By Nika on 2018-01-31
-
A Tale of Two Cities
- The Audible Dickens Collection
- Written by: Charles Dickens, Simon Callow - introduction
- Narrated by: Simon Callow
- Length: 15 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Exclusively from Audible. 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.' So begins Charles Dickens' most famous historical drama: a gripping tale of war, social injustice and the choice between darkness and light. After being unjustly imprisoned for 18 years, French doctor Manette is released from the Bastille jail in Paris and embarks upon a journey to London in the hope of finding the daughter he never met.
-
-
classic Dickins
- By srwatson on 2019-09-30
-
How to Die
- An Ancient Guide to the End of Life
- Written by: Seneca, James S. Romm - introduction and translation
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 2 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"It takes an entire lifetime to learn how to die", wrote the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca (c. 4 BC-65 AD). He counseled readers to "study death always", and took his own advice, returning to the subject again and again in all his writings, yet he never treated it in a complete work. How to Die gathers in one volume, for the first time, Seneca's remarkable meditations on death and dying. Edited and translated by James S. Romm, How to Die reveals a provocative thinker who speaks with a startling frankness about the need to accept death or even, under certain conditions, to seek it out.
-
-
Good summary of a stoic on death
- By Amazon Customer on 2019-07-13
-
Treasure Island
- An Audible Original Drama
- Written by: Robert Louis Stevenson, Marty Ross - adaptation
- Narrated by: Philip Glenister, Daniel Mays, Catherine Tate, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Audible Originals takes to the high seas to bring to life this timeless tale of pirates, lost treasure maps and mutiny. When weathered old sailor Billy Bones arrives at the inn of young Jim Hawkins' parents, it is the start of an adventure beyond anything he could have imagined. When Bones dies mysteriously, Jim stumbles across a map of a mysterious island in his sea chest, where X marks the spot of a stash of buried pirate gold.
-
-
Nope
- By Amazon Customer on 2019-01-26
-
The Road
- Written by: Cormac McCarthy
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America is a barren landscape of smoldering ashes, devoid of life except for those people still struggling to scratch out some type of existence. Amidst this destruction, a father and his young son walk, always toward the coast, but with no real understanding that circumstances will improve once they arrive. Still, they persevere, and their relationship comes to represent goodness in a world of utter devastation.
-
-
My first, only, audible review.
- By OL on 2019-04-03
-
Fahrenheit 451
- Written by: Ray Bradbury
- Narrated by: Tim Robbins
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television "family."
-
-
A dystopian tale relevant today
- By Tee on 2018-06-13
-
The Picture of Dorian Gray
- Written by: Oscar Wilde
- Narrated by: Russell Tovey
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A disturbing tale of a young man's uncanny ability to remain both young and beautiful while descending into a life of heartless debauchery, The Picture of Dorian Gray was considered proof of both Wilde's genius and his perversion. Oscar Wilde's scandalous best seller of 1891 was one of the most damning pieces of evidence used against him in the trial that brought about his downfall.
-
-
Russell Tovey vocal mesmerizer
- By Joe on 2019-12-28
-
The Remains of the Day
- Written by: Kazuo Ishiguro
- Narrated by: Dominic West
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kazuo Ishiguro's Booker Prize-winning masterpiece became an international best seller on publication, was adapted into an award-winning film, and has since come to be regarded as a modern classic. The Remains of the Day is a spellbinding portrayal of a vanished way of life and a haunting meditation on the high cost of duty. It is also one of the most subtle, sad, and humorous love stories ever written.
-
-
Quietly compelling
- By Anonymous User on 2019-08-16
-
Great Expectations
- The Audible Dickens Collection
- Written by: Charles Dickens, Howard Jacobson
- Narrated by: Matt Lucas, Howard Jacobson
- Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this Audible Exclusive performance by Matt Lucas of Great Expectations, Charles Dickens demonstrates that conscience, loyalty and empathy are virtues far more valuable than intellect, wealth and social standing. First published in Dickens’ own periodical, All the Year Round, the novel was divided into nine monthly instalments, from December 1860 to August 1861. Unsurprisingly, it was an instant success and managed to sell over 100,000 copies per week. Though written at a challenging time in Dickens’ life, when the impending breakdown of his marriage loomed over him, Great Expectations proves to be one of his most optimistic, comical and romantic novels.
-
-
amazing.
- By Laura on 2019-04-12
-
Brave New World
- Written by: Aldous Huxley
- Narrated by: Michael York
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Lenina and Bernard visit a savage reservation, we experience how Utopia can destroy humanity.
Cloning, feel-good drugs, anti-aging programs, and total social control through politics, programming, and media: has Aldous Huxley accurately predicted our future? With a storyteller's genius, he weaves these ethical controversies in a compelling narrative that dawns in the year 632 A.F. (After Ford, the deity). When Lenina and Bernard visit a savage reservation, we experience how Utopia can destroy humanity.
-
-
great book narrator not
- By Jackson T. on 2019-09-30
-
Inferno: From The Divine Comedy
- Written by: Dante Alighieri, Benedict Flynn (translator)
- Narrated by: Heathcote Williams
- Length: 4 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Abandon all hope you who enter here." ( "Lasciate ogne speranza voi ch’intrate.") Dante’s Hell is one of the most remarkable visions in Western literature. An allegory for his and future ages, it is, at the same time, an account of terrifying realism. Passing under a lintel emblazoned with these frightening words, the poet is led down into the depths by Virgil and shown those doomed to suffer eternal torment for vices exhibited and sins committed on earth.
-
-
Great narrator; However
- By Anonymous User on 2020-03-06
-
Slaughterhouse-Five
- Written by: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: James Franco
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Traumatized by the bombing of Dresden at the time he had been imprisoned, Pilgrim drifts through all events and history, sometimes deeply implicated, sometimes a witness. He is surrounded by Vonnegut's usual large cast of continuing characters (notably here the hack science fiction writer Kilgore Trout and the alien Tralfamadorians, who oversee his life and remind him constantly that there is no causation, no order, no motive to existence).
-
-
Weird But Enjoyable. Bad Narration
- By Langer on 2020-06-11
-
The Big Sleep
- Written by: Raymond Chandler
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Los Angeles PI Philip Marlowe is working for the Sternwood family. Old man Sternwood, crippled and wheelchair-bound, is being given the squeeze by a blackmailer and he wants Marlowe to make the problem go away. But with Sternwood's two wild, devil-may-care daughters prowling LA's seedy backstreets, Marlowe's got his work cut out - and that's before he stumbles over the first corpse.
-
-
A Complete Mystery
- By Ali on 2018-09-19
-
Dracula [Audible Edition]
- Written by: Bram Stoker
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming, Tim Curry, Simon Vance, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The modern audience hasn't had a chance to truly appreciate the unknowing dread that readers would have felt when reading Bram Stoker's original 1897 manuscript. Most modern productions employ campiness or sound effects to try to bring back that gothic tension, but we've tried something different. By returning to Stoker's original storytelling structure - a series of letters and journal entries voiced by Jonathan Harker, Dr. Van Helsing, and other characters - with an all-star cast of narrators, we've sought to recapture its originally intended horror and power.
-
-
Narration is hit and miss
- By Matt on 2018-11-16
-
Lord of the Flies
- Written by: William Golding
- Narrated by: Martin Jarvis
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A plane crashes on a desert island and the only survivors, a group of schoolboys, assemble on the beach and wait to be rescued. By day they inhabit a land of bright fantastic birds and dark blue seas, but at night their dreams are haunted by the image of a terrifying beast. As the boys’ delicate sense of order fades, so their childish dreams are transformed into something more primitive and their behaviour starts to take on a murderous, savage significance.
-
-
Take a walk on the dark side
- By Roberta Westwood on 2020-05-27
-
The Odyssey
- Written by: Homer, Emily Wilson - translator
- Narrated by: Claire Danes
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Acclaimed actress Claire Danes burnishes an epic story of heroes, gods, and monsters in a groundbreaking translation of The Odyssey, the first great adventure story in the Western literary tradition. When the wily warrior-king Odysseus sets off for home after the Trojan War, he doesn’t realize this simple undertaking will become a perilous journey of 10 years. Beset at every turn, he encounters obstacles, detours, and temptations—both supernatural and human—while his wife Penelope fends off would-be suitors desperate to take the throne.
-
-
An epic will always be an epic!
- By JohnS on 2019-06-02
Audible Editor Reviews
"The horror! The horror!" In this brooding and justly celebrated novella of 1902, seaman Charles Marlow is cruising quietly down the Thames at dusk with some friends. As night begins to fall, he tells them of his harrowing journey down an African river in search of the unscrupulous and near-legendary ivory trader named Kurtz, a quest deep into inky spiritual and symbolic darkness. Acclaimed Irish actor/director Kenneth Branagh impersonates Marlow in this recording. Admirably, while fully playing the drama, he never goes overboard. He plays the tale for the great yarn that it is. But had he taken more cognizance of its trajectory and subtleties, he would have made the listening experience far richer than he has.
Publisher's Summary
Prose that demands to be read aloud requires a special kind of narrator. For the Audible Signature Classics edition of Joseph Conrad’s atmospheric masterpiece, Heart of Darkness, we called upon four-time Academy Award nominee Kenneth Branagh.
Branagh’s performance is riveting because he reads as though he’s telling a ghost story by a campfire, capturing the story’s sense of claustrophobia, while hinting at the storyteller Marlow’s own creeping madness. Heart of Darkness follows Captain Marlow into the colonial Congo where he searches for a mysterious ivory trader, Kurtz, and discovers an evil that will haunt him forever.
With this landmark work, Conrad is credited with bringing the novel into the twentieth century; we think Branagh brings it into the twenty-first.
Stay tuned for more one-of-a-kind performances from actors David Hyde Pierce, Leelee Sobieski, Tim Curry, and more, only from Audible Signature Classics.
What the critics say
More from the same
What listeners say about Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Viay Tharayil
- 2018-09-19
This book is a work of art in literature...
#Audible1. Conrad’s insights and ability to convey meaning and depth of human conquest from the perspective of hunter and the hunted...invokes within us, a view into darkness of our soul. It is only through the enlightenment through the medium of literature are we left enriched and placed in a mode of reflection....the Congo has never really recovered from the blanket of exploitation. The narrator Kenneth Branagh takes us through this journey - the way Conrad may have envisioned this story is told...
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- N Wood
- 2020-12-19
perfect
perfect narration and the book itself is amazing. beautifully written and gripping. the narrator does an amazing job.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer
- 2020-12-11
Amazing!
Branagh's performance brings Conrad's writing to life. An all around fantastic listen. The rating system needs more stars.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Matt Semrau
- 2020-10-08
Branagh's performance perfectly suits HoD
Honestly it feels like this was the way HoD was meant to be experienced! Brannagh's dramatic reading perfectly fits the framed narrative of telling a story.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ashton
- 2020-02-14
incredible performance
story and performance are incredible. I have put this as one of my favorite audiobooks
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ThoughtfulListener
- 2019-11-08
The dark side of man's desires
What will man do for an idea? He can rationalize many evils for the sake of a "higher" goal. Those who do not not carry the light with them inevitably get lost in the darkness.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 2019-11-07
Kenneth Branagh
The audio book itself with Kenneth Branagh is great. Nice and easy to follow. This story however is not for me.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Richard Tomlin
- 2019-03-19
Branagh is brilliant.
Branagh's mastery of vocal performance brings each character uniquely to life. Clearly the best option.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Stephen Glass
- 2019-01-21
Amazing performance by Branagh!
I read this classic as part of my goal to read the 100 top english-language classics. Branagh's performance makes you feel like you are right there on the ship listening to Charles Marlow recount his 'adventure'. I will listen to this a second time just so I can savour Joseph Conrad's beautiful word craft rendered into imminent experience by Branagh.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Long_Schlong_Silver
- 2018-09-27
Disgusting Revision
The text is exceptionally well recited. HOWEVER, in researching this novella I came to realize a disgusting change had taken place. The word "nigger" has been completely scrubbed from this reading and replaced with the word "black." I find this to be appalling, as it has substantially changed the tone of the narrator's commentary on black Africans. The text is now fundamentally changed. This change was no doubt well-meaning, but implies that historical reality itself is unsuitable, offensive, and so unnecessary to understanding the literature that it warrants revision. As a consequence, just to preserve an idiotic sense of comfy politeness during the reading of a novel which largely features violent European imperialism, the editors have disarmed the reality of the text and removed it from history. I am most offended in that I would have never noticed this change had I not researched it further, giving me a false impression of the author, rhe story's contents, and its place in history. I cannot stress enough how disappointed I am by this. It was such an excellent reading, otherwise.
193 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Darwin8u
- 2012-11-21
Conrad's Brilliant & Wild Novella
The novella is literature's most compellingly roaming form and Conrad absolutely owns it with Heart of Darkness. I first read Conrad in high school, with throngs of other pimply kids. I liked it sure, but didn't understand all of the conflciting currents of this brilliant story. I was re-introduced to Heart of Darkness when I recognized it in Francis Ford Coppola brilliant Apocalypse Now. During the last few years I've been on a huge Conrad kick, listening or reading to Lord Jim, Victory, The Secret Agent, Nostromo, etc.
The man is simply amazing. It is incredible to think that he could write better in his 3rd language (English) than most writers could ever hope to write in their first. In this way, he shares a lot with Nabokov.
Anyway, this is one of those few works I constantly return to for its humanity and for its inspiriation. Kenneth Branagh's reading of HoD is amazing in both its depth and nuance.
66 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Harold
- 2010-12-11
From Civilization into Darkness
The enigmatic narrator Marlowe tells his dark story of madness and despair from the deck of a ship anchored in the Thames in the harbor of London, the then world's center of commerce and civilization. It ends in the heart of madness and despair, the Congo river deep in Africa. In this short novel, which has been called one of the most important works in modern literature, Marlow's voice is that of Kenneth Branagh, one of the finest of actors today. His voice gives a complete new dimension with an interpretation on a richer more meaningful level that is impossible with just the printed word.
51 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michael
- 2017-06-11
God is Dead (for the first time)
I had not read any Conrad until recently, and was mildly surprised Conrad had four novels on Modern Library's Top 100 list (more than any other author). Having now completed the four Conrad novels on that list (Nostromo, Lord Jim, The Secret Agent, and The Heart of Darkness) I definitely enjoyed this version of the Heart of Darkness the most, yet I did not find any of these "must reads" except to gain, first hand, a historical perspective on modernist literature.
Conrad's writing of around 1900 is essentially modern and the earliest novels I have found in which "God is dead". This is not at all explicit, but is subtly, yet distinctly, implicit. In the 1880's Nietzsche declared "God is dead" but it took a while before novels began to explore this viewpoint. I was not expecting this outlook when I started Heart of Darkness, I was expecting a dark adventure novel. I found the writing excellent, but was surprised by the modernist outlook and style elements.
Some have considered Heart of Darkness racist, as the novel clearly objectifies native Africans. I would contend that Conrad objectifies everybody in his novels. There is racism, but it is the racism of the the society and characters, not of the author. The author seems to point out the absurdity, and mindless conformity, of racism (and many other social constructs). The novels are not about story, or about character, but instead are impressionistic interpretations of the author's nihilistic existentialist world view. The author's language is rich and powerful with exaggerated and non-linear descriptions.
Sometimes a book makes a "best" list because it is truly great, sometimes because it is very good and was a creative first. I think the latter applies to these Conrad novels.
There is a strong similarity of fundamental outlook between these four novels. I am happy to have read them all, but won't recommend them all to my daughter...I will recommend Heart of Darkness.
The narration by Branagh is wonderfully perfect and this narration makes this a really wonderful first Conrad.
27 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sher from Provo
- 2011-11-05
Dark story, much to ponder
This book is so full of symbolism that I had to listen to it twice to get the most out of it. I checked out sparknotes in between listens so as to get as much as I could out of the second listen, and it was a smart move on my part. If I had been satisfied with one time through, I would have missed the whole point of the story. It is a short book, more of a novella, which might help entice me to read it again in the future. It is a great allegory and commentary on human nature. Conrad is a great writer. I think I will ponder on this story for a long time and try to determine which character I am most like at an given time. I will also use it to analyze (not judge) those around me. It is inevitable, I think. Read this book if you enjoy stories that make you think, dig deep for hidden meanings, and analyze. It will stay with you for a long time. However, keep in mind that it was written for another era and much of the structure should not be considered or evaluated according to modern standards. It is a classic and will stand up to the test of time if the reader remembers that fact. The story itself is timeless.
I can't say enough good about narrator Kenneth Branagh. Fabulous!!
31 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Kyle
- 2010-12-10
Great narration
This is where I wish we could give two scores, one for narration and one for writing.
I was assigned The Heart of Darkness in high school and despised every minute of it. In fact, I have often referenced it as my most-abhorred book.
As an adult, I wanted to give the book a second chance, and I figured if I didn't like it with Kenneth Branagh narrating it, there was no hope for reconciliation. I figured that four hours was short enough a time to devote to this experiment.
Branagh gets an A+. The narration is impeccable. If you like this story, you're in for a treat.
Unfortunately, I still can't stand the book. I didn't agree with Conrad's premise as a kid and nothing has changed in the interim.
But, that's just me. If you like this story or want to experience it for the first time, this is in the upper echelon of audiobooks.
65 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Thomas
- 2018-02-06
Branagh kills it
Branagh's performance is absolutely stunning, especially so in the 3rd & final chapter. Would highly recommend
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 2010-12-07
Highly enjoyable.
This was my first time reading Heart of Darkness. It was highly gripping, and Kenneth Branagh does a great job at narrating. I listened to the entire book in one sitting. There's not much more for me to add, because it is such a classic novella.
37 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Paul
- 2011-02-24
Great Performance
Branagh gives a masterful performance and, yes, it is a performance. His confident portrayal of the characters, even the female ones, is so spot on. This is the kind of book that I joined Audible for. My education left me with a few holes literature-wise and Audible is how I'm going to plug those holes. I can only hope that other books will be given the bravura effort that Branagh gives here. I can not think of any reservation although it might be interesting to see the movie "Apocalypse Now" before or after hearing this book.
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Daniel
- 2011-02-18
GREAT AUDIOBOOK!
It is tempting to see Heart of Darkness as a masterfully constructed parable on human nature (witness Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola's film adaptation, in which the action was transposed to south-east Asia) but as historian Adam Hochschild has pointed out in King Leopold's Ghost, about the king's rape of the Congo, Conrad himself was quite clear that it was based on specific events he had witnessed, saying it was "experience… pushed a little (and only very little) beyond the actual facts of the case". Despite his protestations, this is undeniably an invaluable historical document offering a glimpse into the horrific human consequences of the imperial powers' scramble for Africa as much as it is a compelling tale.
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alexandre Brunelle
- 2020-09-11
j'ai pas aimé
mais les goûts et les couleurs ne se discutent pas. ça pourrait plaire à quelqu'un...